Emmerdale spoilers, news and interviews sent straight to your inbox for free We have more newsletters Emmerdale spoilers, news and interviews sent straight to your inbox for free We have more newsletters For Neighbours fans, Madge Bishop was the face of the Australian soap for many years - but actress Anne Charleston has admitted she felt her character "became a joke" in her later years. The Aussie soap legend said after her character was killed off in 2001 that she felt the soap's writers had "dismantled" the character she had carefully built up since 1986, turning her into "a b***h" and taking the show to "rock bottom" with outlandish storylines. Back in 2002, Anne fumed: “Madge became a joke.
I'd made her into a feisty firebrand, but bit by bit the writers dismantled her. "They tried to change her into a b***h. I argued with them, so they turned her into a victim.
Madge had an aneurysm - an enlarged artery. Then she went blind. Then the coffee shop was broken into and she had post traumatic stress disorder.
.. all in just a few weeks.
" Madge's storylines were not Anne's only problem with the soap though, as she has previously panned iconic 1990 episode Bouncer's Dream, which despite being a fan favourite she claimed had left the "entire cast mortified". She said that Neighbours "really hit rock bottom" over the scene showing Labrador Bouncer dreaming of marrying Border Collie Rosie and welcoming puppies together. Admitting she "cringed" over it, Anne added: "It was a disg.
